Found (Books of Stone, #1) by B.L. Brunnemer

Series: Books of Stone

Release Date: January 13th, 2018

Rating: 3.25/5 stars

Found is by one of my favourite authors, I adore her Veil Diaries series, but this book didn’t click with me. I think part of it was the expectation that Found was going to be another Reverse Harem series. This belief assured me that while one of the heroes was acting like a complete asshole (his name is Atticus), the heroine, Evelyn, still had her other love interests. But colour me surprised when I realized that Asshole Atticus was the only love interest. In that sense, I felt that this book was a missed opportunity to have an exciting and more mature RH (in Brunnemer’s other series, all the characters are still in high school).

Now, moving onto the specific plot of Found, I loved Evelyn and how badass and confident she was. She was unsure and not entirely in the “know” about traditional Gargoyle laws. But, for her whole life and since her parents’ deaths, she’s been surviving and living by her own rules while upholding the role of Gargoyles (which is to protect the humans and govern the supernatural world). Her initiative and how good she was at her job–and how she actually helped and protected her city–was fantastic to discover!

For an experienced–and quite old–Gargoyle, Atticus messed up a lot. I understand that being supposedly the strongest and most powerful Gargoyle has its perks, but I don’t think it should mean he gets to be the team leader when he doesn’t even listen to others who have more expertise in an area. For once, there are severe repercussions for the hero not listening to the heroine–but be warned they are quite gruesome and horrific.

Now, while there are repercussions, I have to say that how Evelyn dealt with Atticus was very passive-aggressive and, at some points, even just plain passive. For a woman who has been so militant and aggressive with her plans to protect the city, I found it odd that she was so passive in her love life. She wasn’t firm with Atticus, despite it being his blatant disregard of her instructions (and expertise), which was responsible for Evelyn being hurt. He also didn’t have to do much apologizing to get back in her good graces. Also, the reasons for Atticus being a dick were so high on the lame-scale that it was stunning. For a man who is multiple centuries old, I do not understand how he was still under the thumb of his former mentor. What happened to with age comes wisdom? You can respect your elders while still being autonomous and having your own opinions!

The romance between Evelyn and Atticus was really lame. They do have a romantic relationship (they date, fall in love, and work through their issues together), but I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry and Atticus really just wasn’t a worthy hero for Evelyn. Evelyn had been living and protecting herself for over a century. And, she’s been running the city and protecting it for almost that long as well. But, once the main characters take their relationship to the “next level,” Atticus consistently attempts to–and successfully–side-line her! Which is ridiculous! She’s not someone who doesn’t know how to protect herself! She’s a Gargoyle who’s been fighting greater demons by herself and running the city by herself for a long time. She needs her significant other’s support, not this cloistering, overprotective BS.

However, the plot of the book was really well done. Brunnemer also did an excellent job of setting up the next book in the series–and the couple–without taking the focus away from the main couple and storyline in Found. I’m on the fence with continuing the series, but from what I know of the next hero, he seems to be way better than Atticus already.

Also, the little tidbits of information regarding Alexis (the heroine in Brunnemer’s other series, The Veil Diaries) and her situation were terrific! The fact that Alexis’s world is actually connected to this one is insane to contemplate since Brunnemer always made it seem like Alexis was an anomaly in an ordinary world. But, as it turns out, Alexis’s world has a shadow world filled with demons, paranormal beings, and underground societies.

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